


Spiral Staircase Going Down

by nonky



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 01:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21438223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: She was actually a little scary in how little care she gave when she believed a personal risk was worth a pyrrhic victory. Catching on to her bad ideas was like chasing her up a spiral staircase, with Nancy the only one aware how many steps there were to the top. Nick didn't know if she would be the one who fell, or what led him to topple.Spoilers for Season 1, Episode 6.
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Kudos: 5
Collections: Nancy Drew TV Series (2019)





	Spiral Staircase Going Down

Nick didn't know how he'd ever match his investigating to Nancy's. He was overwhelmed trying just to worry about her. 

He'd heard gossip about her mother's death at some local shop, from a couple of elderly women clucking over a 'poor little girl' and 'lost without his wife' man. His realization they were talking about Nancy and her father made Nick want to interrupt and tell them to shut up about things they should leave alone. Nancy wasn't a little girl, and her father was a capable adult, too. They were sad and lonely, but grief wasn't helplessness. 

But he'd worried what he sensed sometimes in Nancy wasn't just normal grieving but depression. And he'd wondered if he was somehow taking advantage of her loss, since everything about her seemed like she really hadn't hooked up with guys before her mother died. 

He'd decided if they were linked by Tiffany's murder, and the dozens of other mysteries branching off that one night, he couldn't possibly be seeing Nancy acting on impulse. She was too quick, too controlled and strategic in her choices. She never panicked, instead getting cooler and more honed to the task. 

She was actually a little scary in how little care she gave when she believed a personal risk was worth a pyrrhic victory. Catching on to her bad ideas was like chasing her up a spiral staircase, with Nancy the only one aware how many steps there were to the top. Nick didn't know if she would be the one who fell, or what led him to topple.

He was a little more secure she would at least have a few other people noticing her veering toward errors in the cause of answers. Bess, George and Ace would try to stop her if he couldn't be there to talk her down. Carson Drew was desperate to curtail the way Nancy had turned a random woman's death into a personal quest. 

On a more shallow, infinitely more tender note, Nick was worried Nancy was the kind of girl who shone just right to attract men of substance. She didn't get hit on by the random rich drunks at the party. Owen Marvin took an interest in being of service to her, and the guy seemed both capable and decent. He was in Tiffany's files, and maybe there was a dark secret to be had after enough delving into his past. Nick was sort of hopeful that was the case, because he saw a real warmth to the man when he looked at Nancy. He was genuine in his interest, and sincere about being helpful. 

Nancy loved favours. She liked having connections and sources of information. She collected acquaintances with people who had odd specialties or well-placed careers. Her phone was full of numbers of people who had been impressed with her mind. 

Money wasn't a draw for her, though. She wasn't rich, but she'd never been poor and didn't have any fear of going without. Her social position in the town was plainly respectable, even as her reputation took a knock getting arrested in the morgue. 

So Nick pulled up his socks, straightened his back, and turned her loose on Owen Marvin. He was determined to give Nancy his every confidence she would pry and snoop and smile brightly, without being taken in by Owen's answering admiration. 

It was hard to sit on the sidelines wondering how it was going, and even harder once he realized she'd fooled him with a risk he'd never considered. Nick had been concerned she was going on getting to know you dates with one possible suspect, only to find her hiding Ryan Hudson in her kitchen. Tiffany's husband was making himself at home, making drinks and deals. 

He didn't for one minute imagine the context of it was romantic or sexual. Nancy didn't like the man, and Hudson was at least smart enough to recognize her distaste. His bug-eyed fear of being harmed was distantly amusing. Nick wanted justice for Tiffany, and he was trying to be fair. It was possible - not likely - Ryan didn't have anything to do with her murder. 

It was galling for Nick to realize worrying about Nancy was always going to have to be multi-directional. He couldn't just worry about the potentially tempting rich suitor she'd gained, when there was also a potentially murderous rich widower with a grudge. The town had too many secrets, deaths and rich men with shady intentions. 

Nick was beginning to think a little kinder on Owen. He didn't want to see Nancy out on luxurious dates he couldn't afford to give her, but it beat knowing she was making plans for breaking and entering and dancing with Tiffany's widower. Owen might just be attracted for obvious, relatively innocent reasons. Ryan Hudson did not have any fondness or gentlemanly obligation to Nancy.

Horseshoe Bay was activating all of his dislike for the rich and entitled young men Nick had met in his brush with success before he was arrested. Even twitchy about being a target of harassment in his own home, Ryan walked into rooms like he owned them. Owen had a confidence, but he gentled it to a humble awareness there were as many people who hated his wealthy family as respected their contributions to the town.

Nancy promised her goals were the same as his own. He thought they had been, back when there was one goal related to justice for Tiffany. But there were branches and roots growing rife with a bounty of ripening secrets, almost in her backyard. She would climb right up into the tree, eat the apple of forbidden knowledge, and pick as many as she could before the wind shook her back to earth. 

Nick wasn't sure if he wanted to be down below to catch her, or settling into the notion he was going to be outclassed by something or someone else. It was hard to ignore the certainty Nancy's trouble would be a lot more complicated than a faulty ignition on the roadster. A powerful man caring about her would be more protection than the skills of a graduate of a prison mechanic program.


End file.
